Gymnasium Carolinum (Osnabrück)

The Gymnasium Carolinum in Osnabrück, Germany, was founded in 804 by Charlemagne, king of the Franks. It is reputedly the oldest school in Germany^[1] and is also one of the oldest surviving schools in the world.

History

In 1632, the Gymnasium was elevated into a university by the Jesuits. However, Swedish troops captured Osnabrück the next year for the Protestant side in the Thirty Years' War, and the Academia Carolina Osnabrugensis was closed.^[2] There would not be a university in Osnabrück until the University of Osnabrück opened in 1974.

Twentieth century

In 1933 the boys' school of the Gymnasium Carolinum had twenty-two teachers, all of whom were Catholics and thirteen of whom had served in the First World War. Only one had up to that point joined the Nazi party.^[3] Yet Nazi educational policy changed both the curriculum and the views of students. The number of schools hours devoted to physical exercise, history, and geography increased, while those involving foreign languages and religion decreased.^[4] In 1939 essays written by students at the school reflected the new policies and referred frequently to works by Hitler and other Nazi leaders.^[5]

Notable alumni

Beate Baumann (born 1963), political advisor
Hubertus Brandenburg, emeritus Roman Catholic Bishop of Stockholm.
Karl Brandi, historian
Michael F. Feldkamp, historian and journalist
Joseph A. Hemann, educator, newspaper publisher, and banker.
Adolf Lasson, philosophical writer.
Levin Schücking, novelist
Rudolf Seiters, politician from the CDU (Christian Democratic Union) party and former Vice President of the German Bundestag.
Ludwig Windthorst, politician and justice minister.
Timotheus Fleer, cook and philosopher

References

^ The building of the Gymnasium Carolinum, Osnabrück Archived 2006-05-19 at the Wayback Machine (accessed October 2008)
^ MacDonald, Alasdair A.; Martels, Zweder R.W.M. von; Veenstra, Jan R., eds. (2009). Christian Humanism Essays in Honour of Arjo Vanderjagt. Leiden: Brill. p. xviii. ISBN 9789047429753. Ere long the Jesuits made the Carolinum an important educational stronghold in the cause of the Counter-Reformation and in the middle of the seventeenth century, during the Thirty Years War, the Carolinum was raised to the status of Jesuit University. ... A year after its official opening, the university was closed down again, as the city, having the misfortune to be in the frontline between warring Protestants and Catholics, suffered the fate of repeated power changes.
^ Panayi, P. (2007). Life and Death in a German Town: Osnabrück from the Weimar Republic to World War II and Beyond. New York: Tauris Academic Studies. pp. 73–74.
^ Panayi 2007, pp. 74–75.
^ Panayi 2007, p. 76.

External links

Gymnasium Carolinum school website

52°16′40.50″N 8°02′44.00″E / 52.2779167°N 8.0455556°E / 52.2779167; 8.0455556

[1] The building of the Gymnasium Carolinum, Osnabrück Archived 2006-05-19 at the Wayback Machine (accessed October 2008)

[2] MacDonald, Alasdair A.; Martels, Zweder R.W.M. von; Veenstra, Jan R., eds. (2009). Christian Humanism Essays in Honour of Arjo Vanderjagt. Leiden: Brill. p. xviii. ISBN 9789047429753. Ere long the Jesuits made the Carolinum an important educational stronghold in the cause of the Counter-Reformation and in the middle of the seventeenth century, during the Thirty Years War, the Carolinum was raised to the status of Jesuit University. ... A year after its official opening, the university was closed down again, as the city, having the misfortune to be in the frontline between warring Protestants and Catholics, suffered the fate of repeated power changes.

[3] Panayi, P. (2007). Life and Death in a German Town: Osnabrück from the Weimar Republic to World War II and Beyond. New York: Tauris Academic Studies. pp. 73–74.

[FOOTNOTEPanayi200774–75-4] Panayi 2007, pp. 74–75.

[FOOTNOTEPanayi200776-5] Panayi 2007, p. 76.

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